“Cookie Down”

“Cookie down!” My daughter, Andy, screamed! The rest of us looked up from our dough sculpturing projects to see billows of black smoke coming out of the kitchen.  

A few minutes earlier, Andy had noticed something cloudy in the air and gone into the kitchen to investigate. Upon opening the oven door, smoke belched out because one of our cookies was ablaze. After rushing around opening windows, we laughed so hard we cried.  

This particular “cookie down” story happened during our 2009 Christmas vacation. My other daughter, Elya, gathered her college girlfriends together for an afternoon of dough sculpturing at Mom’s so they could experience some “homespun creativity.”  

And like a good creative eclectic, she wanted to multi-task, “Mom, let’s bake cookies while we sculpture so we can decorate them and have a snack!”  

We got so transfixed on our sculpturing that we failed to set the timer. The rest is history.  

This week I had another “cookie down” experience of a technological sort. The web hosting company for my creativity site, http://www.refrainfromtheidentical.com, would not upload photos. Every time I tried, this annoying red error message appeared. I had an icky feeling of powerlessness because I dreaded the possibility of all my hard work halting if the technical difficult was not fixable.  

This experience got me thinking. Yes, sometimes life has those “cookie down” moments. My multi-tasking distracts me and I fail to notice that another neglected plan goes up in smoke. Before I knew it, a week had passed without me really pressing the hosting company to fix the problem. 

Yes, sometimes I curse the complexities of my demanding life—all-consuming career, scattered creative personality, inability to focus. Yet on  a positive note, having my site down made me grateful that I diversify. I do not need to depend upon one particular pursuit or project because I always have other “irons in the fire.” My life is full of “sculpturing in the other room” projects  even when some cookies go up in smoke.  

After five days, I finally posted on the site. It is fitting that this post is a reflection by my mother who first modeled multi-tasking for me. Click on the photo link and enjoy…